When Love Defeated Virginia

1964 is often seen as a watershed mark in American history. It was the year of the Freedom Summer. It also marked the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which ultimately was the sledgehammer that crumbled the wall of legalized segregation. But it was a case three years following the Civil Rights Act that literally tugged at America's heartstrings.

The case was known as Loving v. Virginia. It centered around an interracial couple made up of Richard Loving (who was a white male) and his wife, Mildred Loving (who was of African American and Native American descent). Under the laws in Virginia at the time, their union violated miscegenation laws that prohibited marriage between whites and blacks. As a matter of fact, when the Lovings were married, their wedding was in a D.C. church, since their union was deemed illegal in their home state of Virginia.

From Otherspleasespecify.com